Acetone delivery: what's the sign of it?

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With O/A equipment, it's possible - if you overdraw the acetylene in a given period of using the torch - that the hose & torch will deliver acetone, in place of acetylene.  I've never had this happen, but I've heard of it and read about it somewhere.  So, what is it like if/when acetone gets into the hose?  What sign or signs tell you that's happening?
Reply:You can smell it, there'll be what looks like a wet spot near the area you're preheating and the torch will start sputtering a bit......Mike
Reply:Due to many environmental issues like welding fume, grinding dust, and other air contaminants, I don't like the smell test for a signal or a sign.  It is best to do the math and figure out what size tip your tank is limited to and be safe.
Reply:not sure on this but ive heard the flame will turn a purple color. maybe someone can confirm or deny this, as it would be useful to me also.
Reply:Originally Posted by mrmikeyYou can smell it, there'll be what looks like a wet spot near the area you're preheating and the torch will start sputtering a bit......Mike
Reply:yellow drop shaped flames will be visible in the main flame, liquid starts to leak from the torch fitting, burnback, erratic regulator readings, but the smell is the biggest giveaway. its like paint thinners. I have come across it when the actylene has been tipped or stored on its side
Reply:I rent a 9" diameter, 36" tall (33" plus the lip, at the recessed top) acetylene cylinder.  My dealer tells me when it's full it contains 3.6 cu. m.  (122 cu. ft.)  of acetylene.Okay. I don't yet understand how you calculate this, but someone mentioned in another thread that there is a formula for doing it.  And what I want to figure out is if I can use a Victor #4 welding tip with this size acetylene bottle.  (The Victor #4 is recommended for welding steel up to 1/4" thick.)  I want to know if I can use that size tip reliably without starting to spit acetone.Does anyone know?
Reply:I have been welding for 41 years and have never seen anything come out of an acetelyne  bottle except acty. I run a 315 victor torch and my bottles dont stand up on the truck.  Dont figure. Harold
Reply:If you can find you original instructions or go to their website , it will usually provide a chart for their tip and how much they consume.  As far as drawing a certain amount of gas from you tanks, it use to be 1/7 of tank volume but now I believe it is 1/10 that is recommended.
Reply:Originally Posted by WelderskelterI have been welding for 41 years and have never seen anything come out of an acetelyne  bottle except acty. I run a 315 victor torch and my bottles dont stand up on the truck.  Dont figure. Harold
Reply:come to think of it, I have only noticed acetone when using higher pressure procedures like gouging and heating, or cutting with a number 20 tip.Last edited by stamp; 03-01-2010 at 08:25 PM.
Reply:I have seen acetone go completely through a hose and torch.  When I have seen acetone in a torch and regulators, it is cooper-brown colored liquid with consistance of syrup. If you have acetone get into your systems, you need to have your regulator and torch rebuilt. Replace the hoses.OAdoctorwww.regulatortorchrepair.com
Reply:A victor number 4 welding tip is rated to draw between 10 and 25 ASCFH (Acetylene SCFH).  Your tank is 122 c.f.  If you can safely withdrawal 1/7 of a tank volume an hour then divide your tank size by 7.122/7=17.43You can safely run your number 4 tip if you limit it to low to medium output.Now I know some folks factor in pressure settings and such, but I don't know how to figure that.  Above is what I was taught.If we wanted to run a large tip we piggybacked acetylene tanks.If someone want to explain the pressure offset method I would like to see it.
Reply:I was told in school (30 years ago) that I would see a purple flame.  Never have.  I was also told the Acet tank is full of porous concrete so the acetone will stay in the bottle. DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:As soon as the snow goes away I can send a pic of an acty tank I cut into with a cutting torch to make a sand blaster out of. Full of stuff that looks like asbestos. Didnt see any of this acetone everybody talks about.   Had to cut up a propane tank for the blaster. Harold
Reply:Maybe its lava in the tank?DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Different manufacturers probably used different materials over the years to put in their tanks. Whatever was porous, wasn't affected by acetone, and was reasonably priced. My 1942 welding book just says pourous material. My 1980 book says, balsa wood, asbestose, or monolithic filler (not sure what that is). Can't find my newest book, but if I recall, it said balsa wood and asbestose as well. I've never seen acetone delivery, but have also been curious about it.
Reply:I was always told it was kapok, same stuff they used to use in old lifejackets...Mike
Reply:Originally Posted by WelderskelterAs soon as the snow goes away I can send a pic of an acty tank I cut into with a cutting torch . . .Harold
Reply:Originally Posted by WelderskelterAs soon as the snow goes away I can send a pic of an acty tank I cut into with a cutting torch to make a sand blaster out of. Full of stuff that looks like asbestos. Didnt see any of this acetone everybody talks about.   Had to cut up a propane tank for the blaster. Harold
Reply:The inside of an acetylene tank looks like hard sponge, course porous concrete or vermiculite have seen cutaways of it way back in school and also pictures of tanks that had failures of fusable plugs, pretty sure you'd know if you were running acetone as it would remain a liquid until it comes out and burns.
Reply:Originally Posted by sn0border88You cut an acy tank with a cutting torch?. . .
Reply:Originally Posted by David RI was told in school (30 years ago) that I would see a purple flame.  Never have.  I was also told the Acet tank is full of porous concrete so the acetone will stay in the bottle. David
Reply:Since we've drifted a bit here is a cut-out of a pdf I downloaded from somehwere that I can't find now. Called "The History of Acetylene". Hope this isn't too long: Many porous masses are or have been used in dissolved acetylene cylinders,and very many more have been proposed.Fibrous Materials as Porous MassIn the early years of the industry, cylinders in several countries were packed withkapok; many thousands of these cylinders are still in use in Britain after overthirty years of service. In the U.S.A., asbestos rope packing was used in theearly years subsequently modified into asbestos discs predipped in water glass,conforming to the contour of the shell (which at that time has not neck, but aslightly concave tope welded in like the base; the preformed discs could thereforebe packed into the cylinder prior to the completion of shell fabrication).Many other fibrous materials have been proposed alone of mixed with powders,including silk, viscose, leather, sponge, flax, animal hair, glass wool, slag wool,and asbestos.Granual MassesNumerous materials have been proposed for the making of porous mass ingranular or powder form, either alone or as mixtures sometimes with specialcontrol of grain size; they include kieselguhr, charcoal, cork, active carbon,pumice, silica gel, peat, wood or cellulose, alumina, magnesium compounds,elder pith, horn meal, cofferdam, meerschaum, sawdust, brick, etc. Kieselguhrhas been proposed as bonded into granular form by melamine resins, orcarboxy-methylcellulose.Filling cylinders with these non-coherent substances is an easy matter, but mostof them suffer from the disadvantage that during use they gradually settle and sono longer fill the cylinder completely, with the result that they have gradually beenabandoned in favor of the coherent substances.Monolithic MassThe first porous mass, made in 1897, consisted of porous ceramic bricks madeby a special technique and have a porosity of 75 to 80%. Fine channels werebored into the mass to facilitate gas extraction. Because of their poormechanical resistance these porous bricks crumbled and were soon replaced byother substances. The porous mass known in France as A.D.A.A., which is stillused in a large number of cylinders, was developed in 1901. It consists of aspecial concrete made of pieces of charcoal and a cement made from kieselguhr,asbestos, and zinc oxychloride. This concrete with water added was put into theempty cylinder in the form of a paste and then heated to eliminate the water,forming in situ a mass which stuck to the wall and which had a porosity ofbetween 75 and 77%. Subsequently, a porosity of 80% was achieved by using amore suitable charcoal (3).In April 1919, the Prest-O-Lite Company obtained approval of a monolithicporous mass. All cylinders manufactured by Linde after that date contain amonolithic mass. The 1919 version was produced from charcoal, cement,kieselguhr and asbestos. These started with 70% and eventually were increasedto 80% porosity.In May 1941 the Bureau of Explosives approved a new Linde cylinder, patent No.2,422,251, which contained a calcium-silicate monolithic mass of 81 to 83%porosity. Virtually all cylinders produced worldwide today (1992) have thecalcium-silicate type porous mass with porosity as high as 92%. Regularproduction of the calcium-silicate mass was initiated by Linde in late 1945 at an81/83% porosity. In 1949, Dr. McKenna of the Bureau of Explosives approved anew calcium-silicate porous mass revised for 92% porosity. Details of acetoneloading, filler clearance and pore size were written into DOT 8/8AL. Patent No.2,885,040 was issued to cover this new mass."The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt
Reply:Here's your sign!Please stand back from the truck and hold the Fire Extinguisher. Attached ImagesOriginally Posted by stampyellow drop shaped flames will be visible in the main flame, liquid starts to leak from the torch fitting, burnback, erratic regulator readings, but the smell is the biggest giveaway. its like paint thinners.